Newt Gingrich Concedes Defeat: Official Announcement to End Campaign Likely Next Week

Republican U.S. presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and his wife Callista arrive at his Alabama and Mississippi primary election night rally in Hoover, Alabama, March 13, 2012.

Newt Gingrich is reportedly set to drop out of the race to be the Republican nominee for the White House, with an official announcement likely to be made next week. Gingrich admitted publicly Wednesday that Mitt Romney would most likely be the Republican presidential candidate; all but admitting to the defeat of his campaign.

While Republican runner Newt Gingrich has not yet fully withdrawn himself, during a Wednesday speech in North Carolina he suggested that the Republican Party should now look to unite their support behind Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

"I think you have to at some point be honest with what's happening in the real world, as opposed to what you'd like to have happened," Gingrich said. "Gov. Romney had a very good day yesterday. He got 67 [percent] in one state, and he got 63 in other, 62 in another. Now you have to give him some credit, I mean this guy's worked six years, put together a big machine, and has put together a serious campaign."

The speech came only a day after Romney swept all five primaries, including Delaware where Gingrich had focused much of his campaign. During his speech to Gatson County, Gingrich admitted that at some point it was necessary to accept defeat.

Gingrich still insisted that he was the better candidate, but accepted that the rest of America may not agree.

"I think obviously that I would be a better candidate, but the objective fact is the voters didn't think that," he continued. "And I also think it's very, very important that we be unified."

Gingrich indicated that an official statement of his dropping out of the GOP race would be made soon, adding that "we're working out the details of our transition and we'll have information for the press in the next couple of days."

Various media publications have suggested that Gingrich will officially announce the withdrawal of his campaign on Tuesday next week. It is believed that he will, at the same time, officially express his support for Mitt Romney to go head-to-head with President Obama.

Romney has been slowly shifting his focus onto the presidential elections later this year, and in particular, the Obama administration. He continued this focus following Tuesday's primary wins saying, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" Romney's choice of words was an echo of former U.S. President Ronald Regan, which he used to urge Americans to contemplate whether Obama's "sweeping promises of hope and change" had been fulfilled.